I have to say I am a little bemused. I'm not trying to point fingers or be a happy clapper, so please no-one get niggled by this post. Why is there suddenly a feeling that we're not spending money? If I've missed an interview with Les saying that, fair enough. Latviandream rightly pointed out the profits, but we still spent vast amounts of money (off the top of my head, 50m last summer and 30m the summer before??? Today is the 11th day out if 62 for transfers. We've already signed a few and if expect is to sign a few more. Serious question without looking for a fight... Why are people moaning (or talking) as if we are not going to spend. If we don't, let's discuss that in Sept 2nd?
Schad, I inow what we got, but we DID spend. We've signed a couple on low fees, but "it's quite possible we're bargain hunting" doesn't mean we are. It's too early to say. Say we sign two players for 10m each (not enough players in my view), that would mean about 30m spend? Hardly not spending, even if we have lots of cash.
1. We need a deeper squad than last season, if we're to have a realistic chance of adequately coping with the EL (and trying to avoid another end of season burn-out). 2. We need to respect the squad building of other sides, and try and counter what they're doing as far as possible. In my view, anyone who simply looks inwards (ie just at ourselves) is naïve. Now I don't necessarily mean respect the money which other sides are spending. History tells us that many sides waste money. But there will be sides out there who improve themselves - it always has been the case, and always will be the case. Any club which remains stagnant, be they a top, middle or bottom club, will be at risk of being overtaken by a club below them who have improved. I think it played a big part in why we got relegated in 2005. Our team that season wasn't massively different to the one which we had the previous season, but what signings did we really make between the 2003 Cup final and relegation in 2005 that really improved us? Note, replacements are not necessarily improvements - then or now. When you look much deeper into it, there may be legitimate reasons to not suddenly become worried about what Palace or West Ham or Newcastle or Everton or Stoke might do this coming season. But it would be completely wrong, in my view, to not even think about them in the first place. Jumping to a different sport, look at Murray-Federer last night. Murray did little wrong, but Federer was simply better than him. People might think we're in a good place, and they may well be right. But it doesn't mean that one of our rivals won't have moved themselves into an even better place. It's wrong for anyone to just think about us, and not look/want to negate what improvements our rivals might make. As for today's results, I couldn't give a monkies. Early friendly matches, not our best XI, lots of kids involved.
These days, a summer in which you sell 35m worth of players and take in 30m does qualify as bargain hunting...heh, if a player you've purchased for 7-8m turns into a very good starter for 3-4 years, you've struck gold. Such is the financial situation in which the PL finds itself relative to the rest of the world; Newcastle can now drop 14m on a player without batting an eye (and without endangering Ashley's pocketbook) with no corresponding move out.
I disagree with your first line, but only because that means you have a net small spend or net small gain. That doesn't mean you are bargaining hunting. Signing free players and very low cost players is bargaining hunting.
I guess it just comes down to differing definitions of 'very low cost', at this point. When we sold Jack Cork for ~3m, a rotation player with only six months remaining on his contract, to a team in Swansea who don't have outsized financial resources, most agreed that they were getting a real bargain. Good players can be acquired cheaply, to be sure, but what qualifies as 'cheap' today would've been our record signing when we jumped back into the Prem.
If we sign a 10m player, is that bargain hunting. I wouldn't say its a really big fee, but it's not bargaining hunting.
40 plus days to go.... Hopefully we'll be signing some more with good quality. As I said earlier, I think we need to wait a few more weeks and then we will know if we have signed enough or spent enough.
Signing a 10m player wouldn't necessarily be bargain hunting, no. But what we've done to date certainly qualifies, and if the impetus for spending on that 10m player is selling another for 25m, we're a long way from operating high in the market. We've demonstrated the ability to buy good players for less than we sell them for, but posting a consistently negative net transfer spend while moving forward is increasingly tricky in a league with such outsized financial resources.
It is early days and hopefully we will make some quality signings, replacing Clyne, Toby and Morgan is going to put the black box into overdrive. Hoping we don't fall into the same trap as Brenda and spend money on numbers rather than quality.
I agree Schad, the only thing I've said over this part of the thread is that I don't get why people are talking about not spending money when we aren't even two weeks into the window.
We need some good quality (that's the gamble losing Toby and Morgan) and I also think we need numbers, more than we had last year anyway.
I agree there's still a lot of time to sign players (although our season starts in less than 3 weeks) but that's a pretty disingenuous statement. There's been plenty of time to make signings. The season ended 7 weeks ago and the club announced the first signing of the summer about 4 weeks ago. Hell, Manchester United actually announced the signing of Depay before their last game of the season.
Oh man! I'm going to leave it. I'm just trying to say that right now, I'm not worried. I'm happy to leave the Ron and Les to do what they do. No-one knows how many players we've tried to sign or are still trying to sign, yet some people seem to like to want to question and assume the worst. I'll just sit here being happy, looking at my half full glass of wine Have a good evening guys.
I want to see progress each year and we have been successful in that since the takeover. Some very good players have been snapped up by other teams so let's see what the black box knocks out this time
We've got in early and added a couple of younger players with potential, one because his club couldn't demand a higher price because he only had 12 months of contract remaining - rather like us with Clyne - and another, because he had a low release fee that was written in very different times. Good business on both counts, I'd suggest. We've also drafted in a goalkeeper early doors to cover until Fraser is back. He has international experience, and has played around Europe, and has also tasted the Premier League before and knows what it's all about. Another smart move, I'd say. We've also added a cheap and easy squad player on a two-year deal just because we can do with a utility full-back, especially with Bertrand having a knock and only having two youthful deputies. We spent about £1m on Martina, so even if he's a bit naff, or just a steady-eddie, it's acceptable enough. We will spend money. We would have spent money on Toby. He blew us out, so now we'll spend on a replacement. When Morgan leaves, we will spend money on a suitable replacement. We have money and we will spend it, but just because we can spend beyond what we have - doesn't mean we should turn a blind eye to the sort of deals that we wrapped up early in the summer. I have every faith in the board, and the recruitment team of Les, Ross and Ronald.
Ideally need quality and numbers but not sure that's achievable for a club of our size. Our first XI has been more than a match for any team in the PL over the last couple of seasons. To keep our first XI at that level we are going to have to be very astute with our signings. I would prefer us to go down the road of signing quality, which will mean higher transfer fees. Concerned if we start spreading our money about trying to accumulate numbers.
Rock .... Saints ..... Hard place Too thin and there's the risk that like last year, some of the quality players get injured/suspended and we don't have enough to back them up. Not enough quality and we don't compete. This is why we need to wait and see what Les and Ron can do within the parameters agreed with the Board. We then can do nothing but back them and support them.
We have done things, and I do like the Soares and Juanmi signings. But comparing the early deals to what many of us were hoping would come from this summer, they're somewhat underwhelming. Yes, Stekelenburg has considerable international experience and has played throughout Europe. But he's three years removed from his last cap, and hasn't been able to nail down a regular role at the club level for a similar span. And yes, Martina was cheap, but many were expecting that we'd aim for two capable right backs, rather than one plus a guy for whom being a bit naff is acceptable enough. They might all come good, sure. However, half a season with Stekelenburg in net, or Martina as primary backup to a young RB who has had some difficulties with the defensive side of the role, are not really acquisitions that strike me as grounds for celebration...they're about the bare minimum for what we needed at each position.
